Future Trends

It was the first major news organisation to introduce live blogging, and the first to open commenting across its site. With 120-million unique visitors this January, theguardian.com has become one the world's most popular and important news websites. Yet after two decades of spearheading its online growth, The Guardian's editor announced his departure last year.
This past week, four internal candidates presented their arguments for why they should be the next editor-in-chief. Each statement offered an intimate view into how these candidates view themselves, what they ...

The South African workplace is being defined by technology and the Generation X and Y workers that are using it. The Internet of Everything (IoE) is enabling new forms of connectivity, changing communications and fostering new ways of working. With the plethora of devices, apps and solutions now available and growing at a phenomenal rate, to remain relevant and competitive, employers in South Africa must move with the times, while striking a balance between current and future employee and business ...

Technology has the capacity to fundamentally change every aspect of our lives. There are few sectors where this is more visible and obvious than education.
According to technology research house Gartner, worldwide education sector spending is forecast to grow 2.3% to reach US$67.8-billion in 2015. This forecast includes higher education as well as primary and secondary schools. In Western Europe alone, education institutions will spend US$16.3-billion on technology products and services in 2015.
Of course the situation isn't the same across ...

The Accenture Innovation Conference kicked off with Johannesburg's executive mayor addressing all the challenges South Africa's capital is faced with. It seemed to be an unusually long list that after nearly an hour wouldn't be resolved during the conference. But when futurist Lisa Bodell took the stage, it felt like she was addressing both his and everyone else at the conference's problems. Straight up and honest, Bodell got everyone standing (literally) and what she said should be shouted from the rooftops ...

What’s in store for digital video in 2015? The online video industry is like a supercar on a stretch of perfectly straight road without any speed limits. As fast moving and exciting to contemplate, video continues to zoom ahead as the default communication medium. Here are some of the emerging global trends that continue to drive video as a major growth area in both the international and local arena.
Ultra HD gains momentum
Ultra High Definition is the next big step in ...

Doing digital banking better is key, according to various banking trend predictions for 2015. But being fine-tuned to customer needs and behaviour, and consequently marrying human centricity with technology, could be the catalyst for true differentiation.
Banking products and services have always been perceived as quite generic and it was inevitable that banks would catch up with each other in the digital banking space. Although launching innovative digital banking products and services that change the way we bank will continue to ...

South Africans Divashen Govender, Kobus Vermeulen, Adriana Marais, Edwin le Grange and Alexandra Doyle have been shortlisted as part of a group of 100 participants from across the globe looking for a one-way ticket to Mars.
In 2013, the Mars One private space programme tried to raise US$400 000 on the crowdfunding platform, Indiegogo, but only managed to raise US$313 000. Still, awareness seemed to have paid off well and the team behind this ambitious project isn't slowing down one bit.
Just ...

We live in the age of narcissism and social media's only making it worse. That's a fairly common sentiment among media pundits and one which, on the face of it, has plenty of evidence to back it up. After all, they'll argue, there's a reason "selfie" the Oxford Dictionaries Online word of the year in 2013. And think about how we tailor the content we put out on social media. It's meant to portray the best possible version of ourselves ...

Solar-powered drones, laser beams, internet satellites and a city on mars. These all might sound like something from a Star Wars movie, but they're actually projects conceptualised by some of the biggest leaders in tech today. And it's oh so exciting.
As first reported by The Information, Google and Fidelity has just invested US$1-billion in the private space exploration company SpaceX, claiming 10% of the company's shares. If anything, this cash injection reiterates that the 21st century Space Race is on.
The ...

With the Internet of Things (IoT) continuing to be a hot topic throughout 2014 and across all industries -- whether it’s about smart cars or intelligent appliances such as connected refrigerators -- more consumers and businesses are now aware of the advantages of being connected to the internet, and so should the security professionals and business owners who are trying to ensure the safety of their organisations.
As many professionals in the security industry predict, the new HD standard ‘4K ...